How could Gail Collins be even more awesome than she already is?

[lolaraincoat]

New York Times columnist Gail Collins, who lately has replaced Paul Krugman in my heart as The Pundit Who Secretly Is My Hot Girlfriend/Boyfriend, has revealed something very important about herself, something that makes me love her even more: she's a Buffy fan. Look, here's the link, see for yourself! Leave a comment

Comments

[florahart]

AhahahaL

The social repercussions are not all that grave when you lose a hero whose fan base is almost exclusively made up of middle-aged men.

And then, I hadn't thought about this because golf is a non-entity to me:

But what about the fact that he’s making his comeback at the Augusta National Golf Club, which is famous for refusing to take women members? When you’re trying to get back on your feet after a monster scandal that was, at bottom, about your bad choice in women, the best place to start is not at a club whose choice is no women whatsoever.

But actually, it's the rest of the paragraph, aside from the line about liking Buffy specifically, that I like a whole lot here:

But it’s always easy to make sweeping judgments about other people’s favorite meaningful diversions. Personally, I like watching reruns of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” If you could conclusively demonstrate to me that there was something objectionable in that, I might give up Buffy but I would never really forgive you.

because that's exactly my ongoing

[lolaraincoat]

Yeah, what I love about Collins - no, scratch that, I love so many things about Collins - but one of the things about her that's lovely is that she is absolutely willing to point and laugh and even sneer, but only at what powerful people do as part of their their day jobs. Like, if Dick Cheney was a dorky model train buff, she would never even mention it.

Not that your mom should ever be sneery about anything about you, nt your day job or anything else, because that is mean and wrong and factually inaccurate also (you are among the most social people I have ever met! just, you know, not so much in meatspace. But so what?) But, you know, Gail Collins is all about the acceptance! and Buffy! and politicians getting their jobs done competently!

[fledgist]

If she came out as a Dr Who fan.*

*I've watched the Doctor on and off since 1963.

[lolaraincoat]

Now, that would be more likely to be Krugman ... or, actually, no, Krugman likes sf but mostly the kind of post-Asimovian boks that interests me least.

In my dreams, Rachel Maddow is a huge fan of Ursala LeGuin and Xena, but I scorn her anyway for the more subtle charms of Gail Collins (sorry fishwhistle)

[lolaraincoat]

BOOKS! I meant, BOOKS! with TWO Os!

[cordelia_v]

Krugman actually spoke at an sf con not too long ago, so it wouldn't be surprising if he liked Dr. Who.

I am sure that Rachel is a Xena fan. Don't ask me how I know, but I do.

But yes, I have lately been swinging the other way myself, towards Collins and away from Krugman as someone I carry a fairly Platonic torch for.

Now, here is yet another striking parallel between us, eh? And why do you figure that is? Is that we really just do run in parallel like that, or is it that Collins has just gotten even more wonderful and cool over the last year, and we're both picking up on that?

I suspect the latter, but wouldn't rule out the former.

*is also hiding from grading*

[fabularasa]

I couldn't agree more! What strikes me about Collins is her calm and her graciousness -- things that make me flail and scream and tear out my hair just make her so. . . gracious. It's like she has this gently wise smile all the time, and somehow her gentleness is so much more incisive than my flailing.

[lolaraincoat]

Plus, she's hilarious. And the restraint and decorum make her even funnier.

[fabularasa]

Yes, exactly! It's as though what we're really talking around is this archaic idea of "courtesy," and we somehow cannot get our minds around it. She is simply courteous, in every sense of that word.